A Radius No. 15, brass, in used but good condition. All parts appear to be original, no tin or instructions/paperwork. Guessing her manufacture date to be in late 1950's, give or take 5 years (due to molded PIP and LTD in the company name). These were unregulated silent burners, discus shaped camping stoves, similar in design/size/capacity to the Primus 54, Svea 105, Optimus 48, etc. Each of the aforementioned ones with roarer sisters (51/106/45). For the Radius 15 that would most likely be Radius 17. Earliest reference I could find of the 15 was from 1932 . Curiously they don't show up in any other of CCS's Catalogue references. Came with 2 Radius prickers, Radius spanner and a standard Radius labelled tin pan ring. Tin pan ring stamped RADIUS x 2 and SWEDEN Brass outer cap with the Radius shooting star logo and MADE IN SWEDEN. Standard 4-tubed unregulated Radius silent burner model number 15/36 . Outside outer burner rim stamped RADIUS LTD, SWEDEN and some Arabic writing. No stamping inside burner. Steel inner cap unstamped. Fount stamping includes RADIUS shooting star logo and TRADE-MARK Model No 15 and MADE IN SWEDEN AKTIEBOLAGET RADIUS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN SOLE MAKERS OF THE GENUINE "RADIUS" APPARATUS repeated in 9 languages. Vented fuel cap stamped: RADIUS LTD MADE IN SWEDEN, standard knurling on the edges of both. Pump cap stamped RADIUS LTD MADE IN SWEDEN. Pump rod brass, burner hole cap screws onto end of pump knob. Both with knurling. Burner came with pilot light, base with fine wire mesh. No stamping on brass spirit dish. Main parts removed, no etching on steel pot legs. Pot sleeves/base support brass, no letter stamping along rim of fount. Underside of fount stamped: RADIUS LTD MADE IN SWEDEN STOCKHOLM Spanner stamped 19 RADIUS LTD MADE IN SWEDEN on one side only, both prickers with RADIUS SWEDEN. To get her safely operational, she needed new fuel gap and burner hole gaskets (both originals dried and hard, replaced with new ones cut from viton, 1/16th). NRV leaked so it was removed. Used a molded plug for its PIP, no brass cup. Used a spare brass cup from another NRV, cut new PIP from viton, replaced NRV back into pump chamber with lead washer. Leather pump cup was fine, just needed oling. Fount passed pressure/leak tests, including when tank 1/2 filled with kerosene. Priming with methyl hydrate Gave her a few pumps and she burned well. Timed exposure. Nice handsome stove, good performer like all her Swedish unregulated silent discus 'camping' model competitors. The difference, as far as I can tell is personal bias. You can submit all these to various performance tests, and I'd hypothesize the results would be so near identical that there'd be no winner. Build quality, performance, range, weight, size, footprint,fuel capacity, fuel consumption, etc etc - all the same. The only 'clear' winner would be in the stamping and scroll-work category, and Svea would win hands-down.
SMoulson, yet another cracking stove. You will have brassnipplekey drooling - he has a love of discus stoves and it was he that first named them as such. I also love their shape. I have not analysed why they look so attractive. I suppose it is the curved top edge instead of a sharp one. But I also think that the stove is proportionally well balanced and that flat area in the centre looks good. This one has the extra bonus of the wonderful Radius stampings, including the shooting star. Your photos clearly show that they also designed their nipple prickers to match the shooting star logo. Wonderful!
Hi Mr Molson. A great stove and presentation. Radius produced stoves between 1913 and 1963, and I'm willing to bet that your stove was one of the last ones. Unfortunately, they did not date code their products, and the only other firm date we have, apart from overall production dates, seems to be the introduction of the "Ltd." designation in 1939 or 1940. At one time, I had it fixed in my mind that Radius started with a big "shooting star" logo on their stoves in the earlier years, and this progressively shrunk, and moved around the tank, until it disappeared altogether! However, thanks to work by CCS member, Stejar, I now believe that Radius adopted a "Retro" look in their later production, and went back to their earlier tank engraving style and content, including the big "shooting star". Your stove has the big shooting star, positioned above the pump tube on the tank, the Radius Ltd. marking , but also a molded NRV pip, so we have no doubt that it is a late, 1950s/very early 1960s model. I have just been looking at some photos of a slightly scruffy pre-WW2 Radius 17, discus stove, and the tank markings look almost identical to your stove, with the exception of the Ltd. designation, yet these stove are around 30 years apart. https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/26276 It is great that you post such detailed photographs and descriptions of your collection, as it allows us to build up a comprehensive time- line of stoves where the maker does not provide manufacturing dates. Keep up the good work! Best Regards, George.
Thank you SMolson for this and the incredible effort you're extending to create the many enlightening posts you're nice enough to share. They're big on stoves, anywhere-cooking, adventurous, natural beauty and wonders etc etc, thank you. 1. relates to George, are you suggesting it's circa 63? If so care to share why. post says late 50's + - 5 yrs so u agree. I see RADIUS LTD in big letters on so many other Radius stoves, not the 15?. I wondered if it were circa 39=40 where they still had top halves to use up and stamped the LTD on the bottom? (LTD on pump n cap I see, molded pip I dunno bout). 2. SMolson, your comment re how ALIKE sooo many of the stoves are w/o a clear front runner. Thank you, I think that's paramount and I would have liked to hear it more often as I 1st began. To delve into it is worthy of a separate topic. 2B You've ALOT of experience regaining "the shine" of old stoves you chose the SVEA for it's stamping (or was THAT maybe part personal bias as well?). With faint stamping on a newer a SVEA 106 here I didn't have that impression. We can't compare Optimus 71/ 80 as sadly they ended stamping those. thx again
Hi OMC, I am in agreement with Mr Molson in believing that his Radius No.15 stove dates from the late 1950s/very early 1960s. The use of a moulded pip in the NRV of this Radius No.15 stove is, I believe, a key dating clue. I believe that the one-piece moulded pip came into use with the Swedish Manufacturers around 1960. Here is my evidence: Optimus was still using "cork holder" #267 and "cork packing" #268 for their NRV in 1957/8 according to their catalogue. In their 1972 catalogue this assembly has been replaced with a one-piece "rubber cone" #263 This rubber cone part is also shown in a 1970s brochure for Op.96/96L stoves, but the Optimus spares numbering system has now changed and the part number is #2252. In the Primus catalogues we see a brass carrier with washer, described as "cone with washer" #4383 for their NRVs in the 1955/6 catalogue. The next catalogue available to me, the 1967 version shows that a one-piece "rubber cone", but still using the same #2383 designation, has been adopted. Max Sievert (Svea) catalogues show a one-piece, rubber cone packing, #1225, in both the 1960 (cat. No.300) and 1961 (cat No.229)publications. Interestingly, there is a note to say that this arrangement replaces the two piece holder with packing #926 We have a Radius catalogue from the 1950s and this lists a brass carrier with packing for their NRVs at that time. You also comment on the use of Ltd. in the markings on this Radius No.15 stove. I do address the changing content and style of Radius marking through the years of production in my post. I drew on my observations on other Radius models, similar to the No.15, such as the Radius No.17, where we have access to more examples: https://classiccampstoves.com/forums/radius-no-17.359/ And I personally have 4. Perhaps the most exhaustive study of the types and markings of Radius No.21 stove has been carried out by CCS member Stejar: https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/20588 Many of his observations apply to other Radius models as the manufacturers adopted a "corporate style" in their stove designs. Hope this helps in our search for knowledge. Best Regards, Kerophile.
Great effort with the research Kerophile, much appreciated and very informative. I remember reading one of your older posts about Radius's use of the shooting star logo and your observations on the various marking changes through the decades of production. Lets hope over the coming years many more of them are added to the Gallery, making up for the gaps in the Catalogue references. I'll be posting all the others I have, but it takes time. I agree Trevor, they are beautiful stoves and age so well. Even the banged up ones are worthy of complements, they wear their miles well. Kudos to their designers. Hi OMC, It's as Kerophile stated, the molded PIP is the big give away. I didn't know the exact date they were brought in to replace the brass cup/PIP combo, but knew the transition was somewhere late 1950's to early 60's. That of course assumes the NRV has not been replaced by a previous owner during the course of her life. If replaced by a newly purchased one 1960+ then most likely it would have been a molded PIP version. That's one of the challenges dating stoves, if you don't have a detailed history of the item then who knows what parts have been swapped out or replaced during the course of its life. But chances are this one is original to the stove and dates to the very early 1960's as Kerophile stated. I have multiple models of each silent version of the Radius 15's Swedish competitor's and the Svea's, based on what I've seen, are the most heavily (and beautifully) engraved in comparison. I have posted the Svea 105 , but none of the others yet. They are all beautiful stoves though and I don't have a favorite between them.
Very nice stove. I just picked up a Radius No. 15 stove. It says "AB Radius Stockholm" with "made in Sweden" in the center, on the bottom of the fount. I know nothing about them. I posted a thread out in the forums before I found this one. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
